No more playing it safe
By Jessica Brodie
My grandma used to tell me stories about the first television set they bought. Like other families in the 1950s, they would gather after dinner to watch news shows and sitcoms like “I Love Lucy” and “The Honeymooners,” my mom and her older brother and sister gathering around, rapt over the moving pictures right there in their living room. It seemed magical back then, amazing that regular people like them could own something so revolutionary and novel.
Yet that’s precisely when the decline of print publications began—in the mid-20th century with the rise of television and later, in my own teenage years, with the ascent of the internet, not to mention smartphones. The Advocate began to see a decline in its heyday then, too. Today, while thriving in reputation, we remain one of just a few print religious newspapers in existence. Most others are digital only or have disappeared.
Our funds are dwindling, too. While our subscription base remains strong and loyal, rising printing and postage costs meant the Advocate began to struggle financially.
So we started our own expansion, our own pivoting. We launched a website and a digital publication to supplement our print product. We started group plans and even online group plans, anything to make it easier for people to get their church news.
This spring, we rebranded with a new logo and design. We’re rolling out a new website this summer, plus an app. We’re dipping into our trust fund to launch new marketing campaigns to expand our reach and our resourcing.
What else can we do? We know there is much good news to be shared, and we also understand the ways people get their news have changed. Some prefer print. They prefer paperbacks over Kindles, newspapers over apps. Others prefer to read online—or not to read at all and, instead, to get their news by video or podcast. We want to serve them all. And that’s what we strive to do as we roll out these new plans.
At the end of the day, our mission is delivering the news, whatever that looks like.
It reminds me of the story Bishop Fairley shared at Annual Conference about an old farmer sitting on the steps of his hut, chewing straw. A passing stranger approached and asked how the cotton crop was doing. But the farmer explained he didn’t plant cotton or corn or anything else, fearful of the boll weevil and all the other things that could go wrong.
“I just played it safe,” said the farmer.
My friends, the Advocate isn’t playing it safe. We are taking bold, holy risks, dipping into our trust funds and starting new efforts to live into the new future God has in store for us. Sure it’s a risk, but it’s a necessary one. To serve God’s kingdom best, we need to step out in faith, trusting God will provide.
The truth is, we’re all called to take similar risks. Your risk might mean a new job or a new relationship, a new way to do ministry or a mission trip to a place that makes you nervous.
Don’t play it safe. It’s time to step out for Jesus.